SLA comments on Jaffna rape

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 March 1998, 23:59 GMT]The Sri Lankan army in Jaffna formally responded to the rape of the deaf and dumb woman,S. Selvarani, 28, in Meesalai on March 16, in a press note put out by the Palaly Sri Lankan Security Forces head quarters yesterday.

The SLA press note points out five items regarding the allegation that the young woman was gang raped by a group of Sri Lankan soldiers.

The following is the English translation of the five items in the SLA's press note.

"1. No complaint was lodged with the Police or any legal body that this woman was raped.

2. As the woman is deaf and dumb and was blindfolded when she was raped, she is not in a position to identify the suspects.

3. The higher echelons of the army categorically deny that any soldier was involved in such an act.

4. Medical circles say that as there was very heavy bleeding from the woman's vagina, there is no trace of fluids from the suspect in her vagina to prove the involvement of the suspected person(s) in the act.

5. The reason for the continuous bleeding was a big wound inside her vagina and she had to be taken to the operation theatre where it (the wound) had to be stitched close by doctors. The wound had been caused by a long, thick blunt object which had been forcibly inserted into the woman's vagina. Doctors say that it cannot be concluded from this that the woman was raped."